What to Expect: Surgery

Our Board Certified Surgeons are available for consultations for non-emergent procedures Tuesday-Friday. Consultations with the surgeons are typically 45 minutes in length. During that time our surgeons will review your pet’s medical history, perform a physical exam and discuss treatment options and answer any question you may have. Radiographs (x-rays) may or may not be taken at the time of the consultation. More emergent surgery cases will be handled on a case by case basis and will be seen by a surgeon as soon as possible.

Once you have had your consultation with one of our Board Certified Surgeons and schedule surgery for your pet here a few things you can expect:

We will call you the day before the scheduled surgery to remind you of a few things

Drop off is usually between 7-730a, except on Mondays which is between 730-8a

No food after 10p the night before surgery, but water through the night is fine

Please bring any medications your pet is on with you

Please bring those medications need in the prescription bottles

Depending on which medications your pet is on the surgeon may want you to go ahead and give your pet his or her medications the morning of surgery

It is fine to go ahead and give medications in a small treat such as a piece of cheese of spoonful of peanut butter

When you arrive the morning of surgery a member of our surgery team will meet with you. They will have you fill out a form that has you list the surgery being done, the affected limb (if applicable), as well as a few other medical questions regarding your pet. They will also give you a folder with some basic information depending on which procedure is being performed.

Every folder will contain information about post-operative care including:

When you pick up your pet after surgery a member of the surgery team will go through more detailed post-operative instructions. Those will outline and answer questions regarding more specific post-operative care for your pet. The discharge instructions will include incision care, feeding requirements, activity restrictions, physical therapy, medications and recheck schedule.

Click on the forms below to see what the discharges instructions look like. NOTE – your pets discharge instructions will not be exactly the same. The surgeons write the discharge instructions to fit each pets specific needs based on the procedure they had done.

* Rechecks for surgery procedures are included in the cost of the surgical procedure. Medication refills are not included. This does not include any appointments/treatments/diagnostics with another department at VVS.